Infirmary
by Ulysses Quanta
Summary: Setsuna's awake, and Feldt is beside him, giving the two of them time to talk. Spoilers for Gundam 00, you have been warned!


"I thought I told you, Setsuna. You're going to change. I couldn't, so you'll have to do it for me..."

Lockon... Chris... Lichty... They were still here. Still watching over us.

I tried to reach out to them, tried to stop them from leaving again, but the flower appeared in front of me.

The flower. Feldt's flower. Feldt. The others...

"You're alive. That's right. Don't you see? You're still alive!" Lockon's voice calls out to me again.

I am still alive... I know what I must do.

I reach out to the flower, and my world turns to a white flash.

The flash fades. A small pinging noise starts ringing out somewhere next to me. My body aches, as if I had been fighting Ribbons Almark all over again. My arm feels stiff, and I realise it's being held up by something, has been held up for a while, from how cold it feels.

I gently close my hand, to try to feel whatever it is that has a hold of my arm. It's like an hand, or a glove, or something. But the small movement results in a small gasp from someone in the room, and they start to move around.

Instantly, I'm on edge. Something, or someone, is in here, holding my hand. I slowly open my eyes, the darkened lighting of the room a wonderful gift that helps me open them easier.

The first thing I see are... Teardrops? Someone must have been crying. I glance over to where my arm is being held, and two of my questions are immediately answered.

Feldt Grace is holding my hand. And she is crying.

Why is she crying?

Before I can ask her, she yells my name and wraps her arms around me, sobbing. I'm not sure what to do in this situation, so I awkwardly put a hand on her arm, hoping that it can somewhat comfort her.

Eventually, the tears and sobs subside, and she looks at me, asks me how I'm feeling. I tell her I'm fine, ask about what has been going on after the battle against the ELS.

She explains that the 00 Raiser was attacked by the ELS, that Tieria sacrificed himself to buy time for Lockon, Allelujah and Soma Peries to bring me to safety. That a group of Earth Federation soldiers helped them to get back to the Ptolemy. That one of them came to see me, and spoke of how he had once wanted to surpass the Gundams.

I feel a pang of sadness. For Tieria, and for the 00. Two old comrades, lost in this battle again...

Feldt Grace must've seen it, because she wraps her arms around me and tells me Tieria's alright. That he's having a Veda terminal installed in the 00 Quanta. That the soldiers were still fighting, that the other Gundam Meisters are still out there.

The other Meisters are still out there, still fighting. The Quanta is waiting for me, I realise. I climb off the slab, the harsh lighting outside of the room causing me to wince and hold my hand in front of my eyes to protect them from the glare. I thank Feldt for everything as she walks over to me and gives me my helmet.

"Setsuna..." she began. "If... If you don't... If you don't come back from this..." More teardrops started to float around her as she started to sob and cry again. "Setsuna, I..."

I look down at my helmet, the flower she gave me, the one from before, still in it's container inside the helmet. She must've moved it back in my helmet when I was out.

I pull the flower out of the helmet. "Feldt Grace." I say, causing her to look at me, tears still floating around next to her. "I'm going to communicate with the ELS, and I'm going to come back to Celestial Being. Until I do, please keep this safe for me," I tell her, holding out the flower.

She shakes her head, telling me I should keep it. "Feldt," I tell her. "You gave this flower to me. You should be the one to hold onto it until I return." She looks down at the ground, still sobbing, but gently takes the flower out of my hands. I thank her, but she wraps me in a third hug, still crying all the while. So I put my hand on her back in an attempt to comfort her. Lockon would know what to do to comfort Feldt, but he's not here.

"Setsuna," she says. "You better come back to us," she tells me. I nod, and she lets go of me and starts wiping her eyes, before indicating a terminal next to her. I nod again, and activate it, calling up the bridge as I attach my helmet to the back of my pilot suit. I apologize for worrying them, and explain that I'm taking the 00 Quanta. I walk out of the room, the zero gravity letting me leave quicker with Feldt behind me.

We float out into the corridor, before Feldt turns to me. One way leads to the bridge, the other, the hangar. We know the ways we need to go.

So Feldt hugs me one last time, telling me to come back to them. I tell her I will, and I turn and walk down to the corridor towards the hangar, to where the Quanta awaits, to where everyone is fighting. Leaving her behind.

I promised to come back. I will come back.

 _Author's Note: I'm sorry if Setsuna and Feldt are out of character here, but I wanted to explore what could have happened in the infirmary scene when Setsuna woke up. Even by the events of AotT, Setsuna still is a bit of a tough character to get into the mind of, but I hope I did him and Feldt justice here. I hope you enjoyed my story, and be sure to check out my other stories!_


End file.
